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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Short brush with disaster

The last few days had a little bit of excitement. First, my laptop decided to not start up anymore but get stuck at the first screen. Google-diagnosis says the motherboard might be ‘fused’. Fortunately it is still under warranty. Then, Chanelle went under to get his first teeth cleaning and I am always a bit worried when my cats get anesthesia. Fortunately, no extractions just dirty teeth. The vegan blueberry muffins I baked turned out a bit soaky. And some other ‘fun’ I don’t want to mention here. Let’s just say, when it rains it pours.

Anyways. Ever since I made the vegan pesto, which tastes great and has a fraction of the calories of regular pesto I’ve been a bit on a pesto bender and pile it not just on pasta, but sauted vegetables and toasted bread. Yesterday I tried a new pesto recipe --- a mix of Giada’s Avocado Arugula pesto and my vegan pesto. I think it is my favorite yet. The arugula adds a nice ‘bite’ (as in sharpness).

1 densely packed cup of arugula

1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves

1/2 avocado, peeled, pitted

1 TB mellow low-sodium yellow miso

4-5 garlic cloves, peeled

3 TB pine nuts

1 inch slice of sheep’s milk feta

fresh ground black pepper

juice of 1 lemon

1/8-1/4 cup water (as needed to achieve desired consistency)

Place all ingredients in a food processor, grate the garlic onto the ingredients (to make sure there are no larger pieces) and puree all ingredients until smooth. Add water as needed. With the lemon juice, the pesto stores well in the fridge, and does not turn brown.